Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Overview
Unlike restrictive pulmonary diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) makes it harder for the individual to exhale air from the lungs thus resulting in shortness of breath. Individuals develop this condition because internal respiratory structures become damaged or narrowed resulting in air trapping within the lungs thus, requiring the individual to work harder to expire. COPD is the name of the condition that covers chronic bronchitis (recurring wet cough lasting for an extended period of 3 months for at least two years consecutively) and emphysema (damaged alveoli that become abnormally inflated due to weakened alveolar walls).
